More Money: 5 Ways to Earn Extra Cash in Your Spare Time

The discussion yesterday about how to earn money when you’ve lost your job got me thinking about ways to earn extra income outside regular employment. None of these are quick fixes, but they’re ways to generate cash in your spare time.

Real-life example: In 2000, I took a second job programming computers. For several months, I was working sixty hours a week. I’ve never been so flush with money in all my life. Too bad I was a spendthrift back then — it was all wasted on computer games, comic books, and Magic cards.

“Consulting” may sound intimidating. It’s really just a fancy word for someone who trades their knowledge and expertise for pay. Every time you make a suggestion, recommend a process, draw up a plan or manage a process, you’re using consulting skills. To get into consulting, you just need to find someone who can use your expertise.

Real-life example: After I decided that computer programming was not for me, I set up a small computer consulting business. I designed web pages, maintained networks, and repaired computers. Though I didn’t have much work (I never pursued the business as much as I could have), my hourly pay was the highest it’s ever been in my life.

Earn money from your hobbies
If you’re like most people, your hobbies cost money. They may cost lots of money. For example, I used to spend hundreds of dollars for new camera lenses just so I could take better photos of my cats. Is there a way to turn your hobby into a money-making proposition? Even if you make just a little cash, you can help offset your costs. Get Rich Slowly readers have been sharing their stories about money-making hobbies in an ongoing (though irregular) Sunday series:

Real-life example: After spending a fortune on lenses and camera equipment, I’ve actually been able to make a little money on my hobby. The $750 I’ve generated from prizes and sales is peanuts compared to what I’ve spend on the hobby, but it’s a start.

Make money online
Wait. Didn’t I just write that blogging is no way to get rich quick? Absolutely. But blogging can be a way to supplement your income. If you have subject that you’re passionate about, and if you like to write, a blog can let you earn extra money from your expertise.

Sell stuff
A final way to earn some extra cash is to sell things. Look in your closets. Check your bookshelves. Walk out to the garage. See all that junk? How much of it do you actually use? Couldn’t you borrow books from the library when you need them? When was the last time you played Mario Kart 64? Wouldn’t you feel better if your house were less cluttered?

As long as you don’t try to sell it all at once, it doesn’t take much time and effort to sell your used stuff to generate some extra cash.

Real-life example: Once or twice a year, I sell extra stuff I’ve accumulated. Each year at our garage sale, I make about $300. Every couple years, I sell more valuable items on eBay. Last year I made $1500 for a few hours of work.

Well I have gone the 2nd job route, the only problem is getting used to having the extra money. Now I don’t want to slow down because I feel that the next “extra” paycheck can be used to fund something else…more sharebuilder stock? Easier to fund IRA? Blow up waterslide for the kids? It never ends ;-)

Hi, thanks for the tips I never have thought of a number of them. personally like to use online surveys to make a second income, I am making about five hundred dollars per month working about an hour each day not bad for a side income. The site I like to use is paymentforsurveys blogspot com if your interested.

A job pretty much anyone can do is delivering food. I used to deliver steaks for a company in my home town. If you can deliver something a bit more expensive than pizza, your tips will likely be much higher.

It’s not glamorous, but if you’re in a pinch, an extra $200 – $300 a week to work a few hours in the evenings isn’t too bad. Football season is a prime time to start this sort of thing…food delivery definitely picks up during that time of year.

A suggestion you may not have thought of is to participate in medical research or donate fluids. I’m not going to get into the gory details, but there are a variety of organizations that will pay you for platelets, blood and other fluids. You can also get paid for participating in medical research, by providing data or being a test subject. Obviously, you need to do some research before volunteering for something that might make you grow a third hand :) but this could be a good alternative for someone struggling with medical bills. Pharma companies will actually pay you to take their medicine, and cover your other medical bills.

It would probably be better to sell games online than in stores, you are more likely to get a better deal. Do some research first to see what the games are selling for on ebay other auctions sites first.

Those gamestores are sometimes likely to “rip” you off on games. Though they are good places to get used games, which is a good idea, they are about 10% percent cheaper, and if you get a card from them they usually are even cheaper.

Selling stuff is my (extra) money making strategy. You never know how much useless ‘stuff’ you have until you start looking for things to sell. Suddenly, you find out you have books you’ll never read again, clothes you never wear, CDs you hate, gadgets that are outdated, etc.

The only downside to making money from hobbies are the taxes involved. You’ll have to make sure you correctly report your income netted against any expenses to come up with a gain/loss. Losses cannot be taken against regular income for a tax benefit, but you will be taxed if there is a gain. Also, if you are really into your hobby, the IRS might determine that it is more like a business, and thus, be taxed as a personal business, which is much less desirable in most instances.

All I’m saying is educate yourself on the tax side to make sure you don’t come out worse off in the end.

When you setup your small computer consulting business and your hourly pay was the highest itâ€™s EVER been in your life, why didn’t you pursue the business as much as you could have?

Do you have any idea how many entrepreneurs have failed because they gave up too soon?!?

MANY, many computer consulting businesses have started because of IT pros looking to learn extra cash in their spare time, very similar to your situation.

Small business computer consulting can be VERYYYY lucrative with a very minimal capital investment… IF you know what you’re doing!

If you enjoyed computer consulting and you have some good people skills and good technical skills, go sign-up now to get the free sample excerpts of the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course athttp://www.computerconsultingkit.net

It’s field-tested and PROVEN to work for anywhere from complete beginners to those that’ve been in computer consulting since the 1980’s… all over the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and many, many other nations around the globe.

Speaking of Google Adsense, perhaps it’s time to admit that the emperor is buck naked? Google is no longer an asset to small business. It’s digressed into a black box designed to extract as much money as possible from small business while giving back as little value as possible. This piece explains why Adwords is something to be skeptical about: “Why Google Adwords is Not Helpful to Small Business” http://smartstartup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/07/a-fable-doing-b.html

Funny comment spam above for the “Computer Consulting Kit.” I wonder how many places on the web he’s cut & pasted that text or similar text… ignoring the irony of trying to market a self-marketing training kit via such methods. (I bet his materials include a chapter on how to “take advantage of” blogs :))

my kid wants to earn more money but……………………………… i asked them to wash the car and i would give them $1then asked them to mow the lawn and i would give them $1 im running out of ideas give me more ideas PLEASE!!!!!

1. Pay them for anything that needs to be done that you don’t want to do. For example, clean the bathroom, wash the windows, babysitting their siblings, taking out the trash, vacuuming the house, etc. Just be careful to not pay them for things that you already expect from their normal chores.

2. Have them earn money outside of the house. If they are old enough, let them get a paper route. Another option is to let them ask the neighbors if they need their lawns mowed or snow shovelled. This will take some of the burden off of you and allow them to try their entrepreneurial skills out at an early age.

3. Another option is to have them become qualified to babysit and then they can offer their services to your friends or others in the community.

Network Marketing is a great way to earn addiitonal $500 to $1000 per month. I know it has been given a bad rap but it is a great way to earn additional income in your spare time. (not get rich quick) Even David Bach from Start Late, Finish Rich recommends it for additional income.

Another idea is to buy at garage sales and sell on eBay. Sometimes people just don’t know what they have. My parents are avid garage salers and a friend of theirs bought an ink well (2 parts of a 3 piece set) for $15 at a garage sale. She got it home only to find out it was by some famous designer. She popped it up on eBay and it sold for $3000. Of course this is an extreme example, but if you have a good eye for antiques/collectibles, you could make a killing. My parents do pretty well reselling garage sale (and estate auction) finds.

Another cool new way to make some extra money is renting out your unused space as self storage at Homstie.com. The site connects people with extra space to those who need storage. If you are in a big city like LA, you can charge around $300/month for someone to store couches and boxes in your garage. This would allow you to make $3600 per year and would most likely save your renter that same amount compared to traditional self storage.

A great way to make some extra cash is by selling your own books. There is a great website, http://www.bookjingle.com that purchases used books. They make an instant offer on your books and even give you a label to ship the books to them for free. Payment is sent quickly after the books are received, usually less than 2 days. My experience has shown that they offer more than the used bookstores and definitely more than a yard sale. You won’t get rich but you will make some extra cash!

You mentioned selling things you no longer need and I have found a great way to sell books that I don’t want or need any longer. On http://www.bookjingle.com you enter the ISBN numbers on the back of the book and a price comes up for the books they will accept. It is really easy and they even give you a prepaid label to ship the books to them for free. It only took two days after they received my books to get paid by Paypal. I think they pay by check as well.

Thanks for that bookjingle site. Anything like that on CD’s or games? I have used “Cash for Gold” and made out pretty good. They also take silver & gems. Don’t send them anything that has memories….I now wish that I didn’t send a certain ring.

Don’t forget the easiest slow making income. RECYCLE your bottles. we all drink something out of a bottle/can. rather than throwing them away or recycle bin, save&collect. when you have enough, take them down to where they recycle and get cash. some grocery stores are actually paying for them. just need to find out where in your city/town, they recycle.

Earning extra cash from your blog is a process you need to master in your spare time. Education is the key, educate yourself by reading some good E-Books, joining forums related to your niche and putting together a system that will make you money over time.

Hi JD.
I felt really related to your post. I have a second job that generates me about 30% additional income. I’ve also started a web site and have options to monetize it, but I’m still working on the material rather than focusing on selling things.
The point is I allways hear people complaining that they don’t earn enough, but most of them do nothing about it. Your five ideas just a glimpse of what people can actually do to earn more… the problem is when people don’t really want to do it.

Donâ€™t forget the easiest slow making income. RECYCLE your bottles. we all drink something out of a bottle/can. rather than throwing them away or recycle bin, save&collect. when you have enough, take them down to where they recycle and get cash. some grocery stores are actually paying for them. just need to find out where in your city/town, they recycle.

An easy way to earn some cash is to become a product tester. You get paid $40 or more per hour and you will be normally asked to try products and consumer packaged goods that already exist on the market onsite.

Tragon pays their members for their participation in paid product testing or paid discussion groups. If you live in SF CA Bay Area or Chicago IL – Deerfield, IL Tragon may be a good fit for you.

onther way you could make money is if you want a product you could buy bulk cheap and then take on out of the bunch and sell the rest on ebay for what they are really worth or what stores are selling them

I have tried having an extra work so that I could be able to earn more. I wish I would have items to sell on eBay and I would have an option where can I try applying as a mystery shopper, which is near to my place. I was trying to think of other investment options so that I could earn passive income. Thanks for the interesting article.

This is a very informative article. For so many though it is hard to fathom making a living this way. The pay scale just do not seem to match the service requested. People and companies offering a measly $.05 to $1.00 for writing services which is just horrible. Even so, we don’t complain. Why? We need to make money to survive. To anyone looking to make extra money, follow the advice in this article. Make it happen for yourself. Most importantly, don’t give up.

Another way to make a little extra cash is offering to house-sit or run errands for seniors. Many seniors do not have family willing to give up their time to do these things. I’ve made up to $200/wk extra doing this. Sometimes they have given me items like old comic books or jewellery that I’ve resold. Most senior citizen houses are a gold-mine of antiques. I keep telling my grandparents that but they don’t seem to get the extent of it!

I don’t have any debt to pay off or anything. I just want to make extra cash for extra items to buy at groceries or that extra dollar for drinks at a bar or a movie theatre and have a steady job and a second job to take on a mystery shopper job on the side. All of the “make extra money list” sounds good to me. I lost my job recently.

These are all great tips and I have a “tool” to add to the “Sell Stuff” part.
Iâ€™ve recently gotten sucked into online trading, and it is amazing how much money you can make by looking for good deals on sites like eBay and Craigslist, and then sell the item for more (maybe â€œupgrade itâ€ a little bit first). For instance, you can get an iPhone with a broken screen for a fraction of the price on Craigslist, change the screen for $50-100 and sell it and still make money of it!

Iâ€™ve used this new tool called Statricks, where you get price trends and fair market values for almost all used goods so youâ€™ll know what the going price is for an item. I find this very useful and reassuring, as Iâ€™ll know Iâ€™m not overpaying or underselling my stuff.
I would recommend everybody to sign up for it and start flipping items!http://www.statricks.com/craigslist-used-pricing-tool.html?lrRef=FYHr0

I’m not quite a millionaire (yet), but your website has allowed me to become more financially free than I ever thought possible. Everything from simple saving tips to long-term investment strategies – it’s all gold. I just thought I’d drop by and show my appreciation. Thanks!

Nooooo way I’m going the second-job route when I don’t even have a first job. I’d rather sell some things or do affiliate links and invest rather than actually go to a 9-5 or work behind the burger counter.

Maybe it’s an example of cognitive dissonance, but for some reason “work” calls to mind getting up every morning and punching in the clock for a set number of hours rather than making your own hours and socking it away to accumulate even if it’s only a little bit. (You’d probably make more in an hour on eBay than you would at McDs. Only thing is, it’s not on a regular steady basis. But still, whoever wrote that they made $180 is better off than the $6/hr fry kid.)

I like the ideas presented here, but I think there is more to add. I think you can make extra money by doing almost anything, it just takes a little creativity. What really makes you the money is creating value for other people. Even with a blog like this one, if it didn’t create value, it wouldn’t make any money. In the DIY section of Pinterest there are thousands of projects which could be sold at a profit. I personally do this and it makes me some extra money on the side. I’ll make lamps out of thrift store teapots, or aprons out of old shirts and then sell them on KIJIJI or Craigslist. You can make a big proft with that kind of thing. If you like to ‘tinker’ in your spare time it’s a great way to make extra cash.

Hi there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this post to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!

Greetings from Los angeles! I’m bored to tears at work so I decided to check out your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I love the info you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
I’m amazed at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m
not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, superb site!

My own contrubtion is. Checking in on bookoblast.com is one way, you can keep up to the moment, with more of what’s taking place, in the ever advancing world of book publising and retailing in general. The website also has a newsfeed from a variety of sector sources.

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My name is J.D. Roth. I started Get Rich Slowly in 2006 to document my personal journey as I dug out of debt. Then I shared while I learned to save and invest. Twelve years later, I've managed to reach early retirement! I'm here to help you master your money — and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you get rich slowly. Read more.

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